Fathers and Daughters
by PinkElephant5
Summary: A Solid Ground follow-up. Some things never lose their awkward-making powers as you get older: a surprise appearance by Dad is one of them. Jim and Kate, and Castle and Alexis, each bond in their own way. For one pair there is food; for the other, weaponry.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N**: _This two-shot follow-up to Solid Ground materialized because Jim Beckett has been absent from my "season 5" speculations thus far, and I didn't want him to be. If you read Solid Ground, the first 2/3rds of this chapter will remind you of the epilogue...because it is the epilogue. ;) If you didn't read it, this story is one big spoiler, but it does stand alone. I think. _

_Here's the sitch: we're about a week after Always, and after much drama Johanna Beckett's case is pretty much in the bag. On the Caskett front, Lanie knows, Martha and Alexis know, Ryan and Esposito know, and that's it. As far as they know. Onward!_

* * *

Kate woke up when he reached the back of her knee. Castle was very slowly running one finger up the outside of her leg, starting with a question mark around her ankle bone and moving on from there. His fingertip trailing lightly through that sensitive little valley just behind the tendon is what drew her back to consciousness.

She groaned his name. "Castle."

As a master of subtext, he could tell that the meaning of this name-groan was very different from the one he had heard a few hours earlier. There was a word for words like that, when they held opposite meanings... He would think of it later.

"Yes?" He responded with all the innocence he could muster when his finger had progressed to drawing a rather low circle on her abdomen.

"Castle." Her voice was half-muffled by the pillow, but still managed to sound threatening. "I was sleeping."

"Sweet or savory?" he asked.

"Sleep is always sweet," she stated flatly, her eyes still closed.

"No, for breakfast. Would you like pancakes, or eggs and bacon?"

"Why are you asking me this now?"

"You're right. There's no question: we should definitely have both. All three."

"No, I mean why are you asking _now_, instead of _after _I woke up?"

He nuzzled her neck with his stubble. "I'm going to make you breakfast in bed. I needed your input. Besides, you don't usually sleep this late. It was a toss-up whether I'd get an irritated 'don't wake me up' now or an irritated 'why didn't you wake me up' later."

She frowned a little; it did seem awfully bright in her bedroom. "What time is it?"

"After eleven."

That woke her up, and she half-turned to face him. "That can't be right. I never sleep this late."

"We've had a hell of a week, Kate. Maybe your body is starting to let go of thirteen years' worth of stress." He flattened his hand low on her stomach and held her flush to him. "And I'm not just saying that to divert attention from the small amount of actual sleeping we did last night."

As if she needed a reminder. She was pleasantly sore from all that not sleeping.

She started to shift. "I should get up and shower. Whatever you want to make sounds fine."

He frowned. "Breakfast in the shower could be problematic. Will you get back in bed afterwards?"

"We'll see, Castle. No promises." In truth, she was feeling unusually lazy. The defining case of her life was closed, at least her part in it was, her employment status was ambiguous at best, and she had nowhere to be until her dad got back to town tonight. Maybe she _would_ get back in bed for breakfast.

Castle sensed the odds were in his favor and pressed his advantage. "Allow me to highlight the merits of this arrangement. First, the location is convenient for post-carbo-load napping. Second, it's also convenient for post-nap entertainment." The hand on her stomach strayed lower to illustrate. "Third— contranym!" His hand stilled.

Still schooling her reaction to number two— had she always been this insatiable?— it took her a moment to register number three. She turned to look at him and saw that his mind was suddenly elsewhere.

"We should have breakfast in bed because of contranym? Is that related to our methods of protection talk the other day?"

Castle's attention blinked back to her, but not fully. "No, that's not— sorry, different train of thought jumped back on the tracks. But it gave me an idea... Take your time in the shower." He tightened his surrounding arm and kissed her neck in a parting hug, then rolled out of bed, shrugging on the robe he brought from home over his boxers. He also grabbed his laptop out of his bag before exiting the bedroom.

Kate smiled when she realized what was going on. She had seen a similar look on his face many times, when pieces of a case suddenly fell together in his mind. Until last week, however, they hadn't spent much time together not focused on work. She hadn't been privy to moments like these when he was struck by story inspiration, when Castle suddenly became Richard Castle, not the minor celebrity but the actual writer who got him there. Strangely, recognizing that moment felt almost as intimate to her as two minutes earlier when they'd been lying together mostly naked.

She rolled to her back and stretched languidly, then after a few minutes of feeling his side of the bed cool, she got up. The shower could wait.

x-x-x-x-x

Castle sat on her couch, typing furiously. Contranyms had given him an awesome idea for an exchange between Nikki and Jameson. He just needed a couple minutes to get this outlined...

"So is that sweet or savory?" He smiled to hear her question as she entered the main room. She was wearing his shirt again, this time over a pair of shorts.

"Definitely savory. This is the fillet mignon of dialogue. Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about breakfast. I just need to get a few things down to flesh out later."

He finished typing his thought and looked up at where she had come to perch on the arm of the couch. He considered her for a moment before he spoke. "You know, it's amazing."

"If you do say so yourself."

"Not the dialogue. Although it will probably qualify for a 'sharp and witty.' I mean you. Even half-asleep and incoherent you still manage to inspire the best work of my career."

She smiled at the very Castlesque compliment and tried not to show the quiet thrill it gave her. "Incoherent, huh? You really know how to flatter a girl."

He snapped his laptop shut and set it on the table. "Speaking of flattery, have I mentioned how incredibly sexy you look in my shirts?" He circled her wrist and pulled her down next to him on the couch.

"Your shirts are comfortable," she shrugged. "Clothes off the rack don't feel this way." She didn't add that she also loved the subtle smell of him that permeated the weave of the fabric.

"I would offer to put you in touch with my tailor, but I'd much rather meet your thread count needs this way." He ran a finger and thumb down the row of buttonholes to where the first button connected just above her scar. His other hand slid up her thigh under the hem, but it soon encountered a barrier. "As your self-appointed fashion consultant, I don't recommend these shorts, though. The shirt works much better without them."

"Better for whom?"

"Mutually beneficial, I'd say." He started unbuttoning the first button in line, but she stopped him.

"Breakfast first, Project Runway, then we'll talk wardrobe."

x-x-x-x-x

The food was ready, and Castle was in the process of loading it onto a tray when he froze with a sudden realization.

"Kate, it's Sunday."

"Yeah, so?"

"So you promised me a rematch."

So she had. Exactly one week ago they had been playing strip crossword, and despite his suspicions of foul play she had won. That was before the call from Mr. Smith, before Alexis was taken, before anyone else was aware that they had finally moved forward as a 'they'. And only a day before that, their 'they' had begun.

If she thought too long about how much her life had changed in the last eight days, it made her a little dizzy. In a twisted kind of way, her visit from the mysterious "voice" on Castle's balcony had been reassuring. If there was some kind of larger shadow organization at work, that explained why Drake's house of cards collapsed so quickly after just one (admittedly damning) piece of evidence came to light. It gave her hope that he would not get off easily. Or at all.

Let other people worry about conspiracies and kingmakers. Whether or not she went back to the 12th, Beckett still thought like a homicide detective, and unlike Castle she dealt in facts, in specific crimes to be solved. There would always be powerful men serving unknown agendas; that wasn't her war to wage. If they stayed out of her business, she would stay out of theirs. But men like that always left footprints in her world, and messes to clean up; Drake was evidence of that. She suspected that the current truce wouldn't last forever, but she would not be the one to fire the first shot.

For now, she had another challenge to meet. "You think you can take me? Feed me first, then you're on." She turned to the door to get the neglected paper and the crossword inside.

"Oh, I'll take you all right. In so many ways. But we're both currently low on total clothing count. According to your suspiciously self-serving strip crossword rules, tell me: will that be a problem?"

She turned to give him a wicked grin as she opened the door. "Don't you remember, Castle? That's when it really gets fun."

Still grinning, she turned back to pick up the paper only to discover that someone had just picked it up for her.

"Dad!"

Jim Beckett looked at his daughter with an equally surprised expression, then over her shoulder at the familiar man in a robe standing in her kitchen.

Castle set down the tray and looked at Kate. "Good call on the shorts."

x-x-x-x-x

Her father handed her the paper and smiled. "Hi, Katie."

"Dad, I thought you weren't getting into town until later." Kate tried to sound casual instead of accusatory.

"I got back early, and your place is on my way home, so I decided to see if you were free. I'm sorry, I should have called."

"No, it's okay, come in. We were just..." She struggled to find the appropriate way to finish that sentence as she closed the door behind him.

"Having lunch," finished Castle.

Jim eyed the tray loaded with bacon, eggs, and pancakes. "Looks more like breakfast to me."

"They say breakfast is the new lunch," Castle said, attempting to normalize the situation.

"Rick, good to see you again."

"Jim."

The men nodded to each other, then fell silent. Kate couldn't decide what she wanted to do first: crawl back to her bedroom to change out of Castle's shirt, or send Castle back to put on some pants.

She was an adult, dammit, and she'd been planning to tell her dad about Castle today anyway. So why did she feel like a teenager caught making out on the couch? Judging from how his usual self-assured eloquence had abandoned him, it looked like Castle felt the same way.

"Well, if you'll excuse me, I think I'll change into something a little less awkward," said Castle, and he made his escape.

Now that they were alone, Jim looked at his daughter and gave her a little smile. "Is this one of the things you wanted to talk to me about?"

"Yeah," admitted Kate. "Although this is not how I planned on telling you."

He shook his head. "It doesn't matter. I can't say I'm that surprised. The way you talk about him, and the way he looks at you, it was only a matter of time before you got here. At least I hoped it was."

"The way I talk about him? I've never said anything about wanting to...about how I feel about Castle."

"You didn't have to. I know you, Katie. What you did say was enough."

"I have a lot more to tell you, Dad. It's been a busy week."

Castle re-entered the kitchen. He had traded his robe for jeans and a v-neck shirt. "Are you two going out for lunch?"

Jim shook his head. "No, no, you've got a nice-looking spread here. You two eat before it gets any colder. Katie, I'll see you at the diner. Six o'clock?"

She nodded and gave him a hug. "See you soon."

He reached out his hand to Castle. "Rick, thank you."

Castle shook it with a quizzical smile. "For what?"

"For being there for my daughter. I don't know the whole story yet, but thank you."

"Well, she's been there for me, too."

Jim looked at them both and nodded. "That's the way it should be."

Kate saw him out, then came back to the kitchen island to find Castle assembling something out of the food in front of him.

"At least I've met your father before," he commented. "That kind of first impression would be pretty much impossible to overwrite."

"I wouldn't worry about a shotgun on the porch just yet. For some reason, he's always seemed to like you."

"I choose to ignore the backhanded part of that compliment."

She picked up the paper off the kitchen island and asked, "Raincheck on the rematch?" Nothing resets the mood like being interrupted by your father, even if he does approve of your boyfriend.

"I will accept your raincheck," he said, "if you will accept this bacon, egg and pancake breakfast burrito." He handed her a rolled-up pancake stuffed nearly to bursting and glued together with syrup.

Oh, it was too tempting. She tossed the paper onto a nearby chair and took the concoction in both hands. Without breaking eye contact, she slowly wrapped her lips around it and took a big, deliberate bite. It did actually taste good, but that's not why she threw in a low, throaty "mmmm" as she chewed. Just for good measure, she ran her tongue along one corner of her mouth, supposedly licking off a smear of syrup, before she answered. "Deal."

Castle couldn't tear his eyes away. He also couldn't form complete sentences.

"I...you...that...not fair!"

"What's not fair?"

He looked down at the remaining ingredients. "I'll never be able to look at a breakfast burrito in polite company again."

* * *

_Questions? Comments? Snide remarks? _

_Part 2 of 2 coming soon._


	2. Chapter 2

Breakfast was eaten, the kitchen was clean, and Kate wanted to use the afternoon to run errands before she met her dad for dinner. While she was taking a shower, Castle texted Alexis to check in and found that she was free for the day.

.

**_In that case, Daughter, I challenge you to meet me on the field of battle._**

_._

_Is this about #4?_

_._

**_Forsooth._**

_._

_Then I accept._

_._

**_I will be home anon. Prepare to meet thy FATE!_**

_._

_Verily, Father, forsake not to stretch first, or prepare to meet Ye Olde_ _Physician again._

_._

"Smartass," Castle grumbled under his breath as Kate came in, finger-combing her damp hair.

She looked over his shoulder to read the exchange. "Do I even want to know what you two are planning?"

"There's a weekend Renaissance fair that has open fencing in the park. It's on our annual Summer Faceoff list."

"Why am I not surprised that you needed medical attention last time?"

"I lunged a little too deep, one time, many years ago," he defended. "This is her trying to throw me off my game. I'm not falling for it."

Kate looked at him straight-faced. "Still, we wouldn't want you to injure anything sensitive."

He winced at the memory. "Yeah, okay. I'll stretch."

x-x-x-x-x

It was a perfect afternoon to cross swords outside. The sun was shining, but not too intensely, and a light breeze kept them from getting uncomfortably hot in their gear. Alexis had talked her father out of dressing in costume on the grounds that corsets and billowy shirtsleeves wouldn't fit under their fencing jackets and plastrons, and he had reluctantly agreed. After all, there were plenty of costumed fairgoers around them; add foils in their hands and it was easy enough to get into the swashbuckling mood.

Father and daughter faced off in one of several long, narrow pistes that had been roped off by the organizers.

"For today you should consider this my truth sword," said Castle as they saluted and exchanged opening thrusts and parries. "Like Wonder Woman's lasso, but pointier. Now tell me: how are you doing?"

She matched him move for move. "I'm okay. A lot better now that Drake can't hurt us anymore."

"Any nightmares?" She looked hesitant. "Truth sword!" he reiterated.

"A few," she admitted. "But then I wake up and remember that everyone I was afraid for is safe. You, me, Gram, Nora." She emphasized each name with an attack. "Kate," she added. "All safe. Then I feel better."

They took a few passes with only the clink of metal as conversation, until Castle spoke again. "Sweetheart," he ventured, "Are you really okay with Kate and I being together now?"

"A little late to be asking my permission, isn't it?" She made contact with his shoulder.

"Touché." They saluted and started again.

"You're different with her, Dad. Still yourself, but different. Happier, mostly. But even when you're not smiling, I can tell that you're exactly where you want to be. And this is the first time you've actually asked my opinion about someone, which tells me she's special to you. Like once-in-a-lifetime special."

Castle made a touch. "She is."

Alexis lifted her mask. "I already warned her not to hurt you, and her answer was acceptable. So yeah, I'm really okay with it. I hereby grant you permission to court Detective Beckett."

Castle lifted his mask and saluted. "Thank you, kind maiden. You're my hero." He said it with a grateful smile, and he hoped Alexis could see in his eyes that he wasn't kidding. She was smart, and strong, and fiercely loyal, and he admired his daughter as much as anyone he knew.

x-x-x-x-x

That evening over burgers and shakes, Kate told her father the story of how they had finally solved her mother's case. From Mr. Smith's phone call last Monday to Alexis's kidnapping, from the death of her shooter to the discovery of Nora and the evidence she'd unknowingly been entrusted with. She even mentioned her strangely reassuring encounter with the voice on Castle's balcony.

"Dad, it feels like it's really over. Mom is finally at peace."

Jim gave her a searching look. "Katie, your mother has been at peace for almost thirteen years. But it sounds like you finally are, too."

She acknowledged the truth of that. "I think it'll be a process, but I'm getting there."

"Is that why you and Rick are moving forward now? You needed to be free of your mother's case first?"

"Actually, we...moved forward last week. Just before all this happened."

"Really? What changed?"

"I realized that a life with Castle in it meant more to me than a death in search of guilty men."

"I'm glad to hear that." Her father took her hands. "For a long time I worried that your mother's death would kill both of you. I even went to Rick last year to ask for his help holding you back from the edge."

She frowned. "What? He never told me that."

"Can you blame him? You never would have stood for it, knowing that I had interfered."

Kate felt the hackles of her independent streak rising. "When did everyone decide that Castle was the one person I would listen to? You, Roy, even strangers like Mr. Smith lived by it."

"Was it true?" He was asking her honestly, giving her the chance to answer in kind.

She sighed. It was irritating to admit, even to her father. "Yeah, it probably was."

"You care about him a great deal, don't you?"

"He's annoying, and childish, and more than a little full of himself." She met her father's gaze. "And I love him."

Jim smiled to hear his daughter finally admit to something he'd suspected for the last year.

She wasn't sure why she felt compelled to confess this, but she did. "Dad, I haven't told Castle yet about "the voice" and what he said. I keep meaning to, but..."

"What's stopping you?"

"This could be his rabbit hole." Jim shook his head, not understanding, and she tried to explain further. "He's a crime novelist; he never can resist a good conspiracy. What if seeking out the truth of this story pulls him under like Mom's murder did for me?"

Her father knew that an easy answer would not satisfy her. "It took you a while, but in the end you chose him. You'll just have to trust that he'll choose you as well."

Kate was silent for a few moments as she digested that idea, then another question occurred to her. "You said at my apartment that you hoped it would happen between me and Castle. Why?"

"Because of the way you looked when you opened that door."

Kate stirred her malt and chuckled. "Surprised? Embarrassed?"

"Happy. You were smiling, Katie, and joking, and you looked happy. I haven't seen you smile like that in a long time. If Rick is even partly responsible, then I'm glad to find him half-dressed in your kitchen. Even if you wish I hadn't," he teased, and she self-consciously tucked a strand of hair behind her ear.

Like his daughter, he was not one to discuss emotions at length, so he changed the subject. "It must be nice to get back to business as usual at work."

Her description of last week was missing a few details yet. "About that— I resigned."

He raised his eyebrows in surprise. "You weren't kidding when you said you had a lot to tell me."

"It was part of getting distance from Mom's case. I chose to get out before it swallowed me whole."

"And now that the case is over, do you still want out?"

She'd been asking herself that question all weekend. "I don't know yet. I love being a detective— well, most of the time. It's a place I can make a difference. But for the first time in thirteen years, I feel free to make decisions for myself, not for my quest. I want to see where that leads."

"Whatever you choose, I hope you know how proud I am of the woman you've become. And how proud your mother would be."

Kate unconsciously fingered the ring around her neck. All these years she'd worn it next to her skin as a promise to her mother that she would bring her killers to justice. Now that the promise was fulfilled, she realized that the ring no longer symbolized death to her. It was life, and a life well-lived, that was Johanna's true legacy, and Kate planned to honor that family tradition more fully from here on out.

It was time to go. As he gave her a parting hug, her father advised, "Tell Rick what you know, and let him decide how to react. Open and honest will be a good challenge for both of you."

"I know. I'll try."

x-x-x-x-x

Castle answered the phone after one ring. "Hello, beautiful. How was your evening?"

"Dinner was good. We had a lot of catching up to do. You?"

"TiVo and I, we had our own catching up to do. So am I still safe from your father's shotgun?"

"He believes your intentions are honorable. For now." She pressed on before her fears had a chance to take over. "Can I come over? There's something I want to talk to you about."

"Of course, you're always welcome." She could hear the forced casualness in his voice.

"Don't worry, Castle, it's nothing bad." At least, she hoped it wouldn't be. _A little trust, Beckett_, she chided herself. "How was your duel with Alexis?"

"She fought valiantly and managed to hold me to a draw." Kate could hear Alexis protesting in the background: "Liar! I won, Kate."

"Poor child," Castle continued. "Heat-related memory loss. You know how sensitive redheads are to the sun." There was the sound of what Kate guessed was a pillow hitting his head. "Oof! And now she's getting violent. Are you coming over right away? I may need police protection." _Thump_. "Or private security, either one will do."

"Yeah, I'm heading over now. But what will you do if I take her side?"

"Accept the inevitable. But not without a fight!" After another thump, the sounds of battle grew more distant, and Kate could picture his phone dropping onto the couch as he grabbed a pillow and mounted his attack.

She hung up and started the car. Her dad was right: open and honest would be a challenge. Neither of them would give in without the occasional battle. But if they were willing to take the risk and see their conflicts through to the other side, the result was starting to feel inevitable.

**THE END**

* * *

_A/N: I totally made up that RenFest fencing thing, but it sounded fun, and this is my world. Kind of. ;) Also, I'm not a fencer, so if you are, please let me know if anything sounded wrong/awkward/unfencerish._


End file.
